


Here

by PotatoVanGogh



Category: Compilation of Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy VII (Video Game 1997), Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children
Genre: Cloti - Freeform, F/M, Hurt/Comfort, Maybe it's a lil bit fluff, also angst i guess
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-25
Updated: 2020-06-25
Packaged: 2021-03-03 19:13:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,909
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24910615
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PotatoVanGogh/pseuds/PotatoVanGogh
Summary: It was an automatic response to lift his hand and cup her cheek, caressing it with his thumb. There was something stuck in his throat and it took so much for him to speak, to plead.
Relationships: Tifa Lockhart/Cloud Strife
Comments: 20
Kudos: 122





	Here

**Author's Note:**

> Another spur of the moment fic. Unbetaed. Hope you all enjoyed whatever this is!

Everything suddenly seemed to be in slow motion.

For a moment, all he could do was watch as blood poured out from her body onto the pavement. His heart started to beat rapidly. His senses dulled. Static was the only thing that his ears could hear while his head began to ache because of the quick pulsing of blood in his system. Before he knew it, he was sprinting to where her bleeding body lay. Seconds felt too long as he made his way to her. He needed to be there faster. 

Quicker, he needed to be quicker. Soon--but not soon enough-- he reached her.

Cloud knelt beside Tifa and scooped her in his arms and all he could think was...was..

Oh god, oh god, oh god, she’s bleeding. Tifa is _bleeding_ . Tifa shouldn’t bleed. Not like this. Not like when she seemed too close to death’s door. Tifa should always stay beside him. Alive and well. **_Tifa shouldn’t bleed_ **.

Hastily, he searched his body for a potion or a cure materia or _anything_ that might help heal her but when he realized he had none his eyes shifted its focus to his surroundings to find something, anything. But there was none. Again. 

Feeling more hopeless by the second, Cloud gathered Tifa in his arms, one arm placed at her back and the other under her knees, and moved to seek an area safe enough to place her while he tries to keep her life from slipping away. His first instinct was to run where Fenrir was but the motorcycle was destroyed in the battle with the monsters that attacked their way. Only a curse made out of his mouth when he realized that it was no use.

And then, as if the heavens heard his plea, he saw a cure materia on the ground next to the pool of blood-- _Tifa’s blood_. He didn’t know if it was his panic that made him not notice it or if it was his vision blurring or if it was his refusal to gape at her blood for too long, but he didn’t care to stop and think at the moment as he sprung to get it. When he took hold of the green orb, Cloud knelt on one knee and gently leaned her body to his other leg as he frantically activated the materia.

He could feel his body relaxing with relief as he did so. Then his eyes noticed something. Something strange.

And in a blink of an eye, his relief vanished as quickly as it had come. A short lived victory.

The wound continued to pump blood out of her body and _it wasn’t healing._ His breath hitched and it took all of his will power not to scream right then and there

The glow of the materia flickered as he used it over and over again, trying to stop the bleeding. Trying to stop Tifa from entering that realm of where she could not return to him anymore.

And it was fruitless each and every time he did.

Something wet was trailing down his face and it took him a minute to realize that he was crying. His breath came up in short pants, a painful grip was constricting his heart as his stomach churned. Nausea was nestling itself into him and it wasn’t helping that he felt so dizzy.

A hand covered his own, successfully stopping him from doing another attempt. He willed his head to look up and see Tifa staring at him, her eyes gentle and..and..apologetic.

No. No. This wasn’t meant to happen. He refused to give that stare any acknowledgement. He won’t accept this. She wasn’t going to--

“Cloud” 

Her voice was still melodic, still music to his ears. Even if it was laced with heavy pain, as if she was talking while she drowned.

“No.”

He didn’t know whether the word came from her or him. Probably both. One word but had two different meanings. From him and her.

“Tifa. You’ll be fine--you’ll--” his voice broke “You’ll survive this.” He felt like drowning too.

She smiled and shook her head. He knew what that meant and he wished he didn’t.

“It’s..it’s okay. Cloud. It’s okay to..” Tifa inhaled a sharp breath. “..let go.” 

“NO!” His voice boomed around the area. He was already tethering at the edge of insanity. She couldn’t possibly think this was okay. **IT. WASN’T. OKAY**.

It was an automatic response to lift his hand and cup her cheek, caressing it with his thumb. There was something stuck in his throat and it took so much for him to speak, to plead. He chanted her name repeatedly as if it were an incantation, one that, if he could repeat a number of times, would summon a spell and magically heal her. The sound broken and very much like a sob.

_Tifa..Tifa..Tifa..Tifa!_

She gasped for air, desperately needing to breathe, but in doing so, coughed up blood. He held her tighter, his voice shaking--breaking--as he found the strength to say more than her name.

““Tifa, stop. You’ll live. Please. Don’t do this. I need you. I..I..I lo--” 

But she only placed her two fingers to her lips and after doing so, touched his own lips . A whisper of a kiss. The closest one she could give now. Cloud’s eyes were a mixture of wild, hopeless, lost. They widened as he caught her hand, which slipped and fell limply, before it touched the ground. He was close to hysterics if he still wasn’t at this point and---

He can’t breathe. He can’t breathe. **_He can’t breathe_ **. 

“You’ve always...had..me..” And then...and then--

_“Live.”_

She was gone.

Cloud screamed.

* * *

He sat up on his bed so quickly that Cloud felt his head hurt. The room was silent save for his heavy breaths that he tried to calm down. Sweat was running down his forehead and he felt the wet patch at the back of his shirt. 

A nightmare. A terrifying nightmare but just a nightmare all the same.

But was it really? Or was it a real memory that disguised itself as one?

The fear was back at full force and he felt the air in his lungs being knocked out of him. His palms were clammy and suddenly the room was spinning around, he was feeling hollow, feeling light headed. He wanted to throw up. 

What if..what if..what if--

“Cloud” A voice called out to him. The voice that melted his insides. The one that soothed him everytime he heard it. The one which was music to his ears. The one that haunted his nightmare earlier. Her voice. 

_Tifa’s voice._

He slowly looked towards the door of his room and he saw Tifa there, standing in her night clothes and staring at him with a concerned face. Somehow, he couldn’t gaze at her so he tore his eyes away from her figure. Soft footsteps padded in his room and before he knew it, she was sitting beside him on his bed.

Cloud was afraid to move. Afraid to look at her. Afraid to even breathe. Because if he did, what are the chances that she was only a figment of his imagination? He couldn’t take it--He just _couldn’t_. He sat still, very still, if one chanced to take a glance at him, they would think he was a statue. It was silent and it was making him unsteady. He hated it. The memory of him finding here limp body at the church flashed right before his eyes.

_Stop. Stop. Stop--_

A pair of arms wrapped around him, pulled him in a gentle embrace. His head leaned against her chest while her arm held him, a hand stroked his hair soothingly while Tifa placed her cheek on the top of his head. He realized then that he was hyperventilating again. But she was here and he could touch her and she was **_real_ **. It was enough to make him sob as he wrapped his arms around her middle and pulled her close. He wanted to be as close to her as possible.

She hummed a song while her hand still ran through his blond locks, her fingers softly scratching his scalp. It wasn’t long until he calmed down and relaxed. His grip on her hadn’t loosen up though. He wanted to hold her, embrace her and never let her go.

She was here. Alive and breathing and not bleeding.

_Tifa. His Tifa._

They stayed like that for what it seemed to him like hours. Her song is the only thing that reverberated in the quiet bedroom. He considered the nagging idea that maybe this room could go back to being just an office. Maybe he could go back and share a room with her again. He decided to tuck it for another day, when he wasn’t so vulnerable. All he wanted was to savor the comfort she provided with her presence.

It always felt like home. He was safe and sound in her arms. With her touch. With everything that she is. 

And coming home was the best feeling he ever experienced.

He was a lone traveler, straying far away in the world that was unfamiliar and, dare he say, scary. For a long time, he was always on the get go. Never stopping. The world was horrible, but he couldn’t deny that he also came across good things along the way too. However, it wasn’t what he wanted. Nothing made him feel safe, secure.

Not until she had held him. Until she surrounded him with her essence.Her light.

It was always the homecoming that made him the happiest. He made a place here, with her—in her. He had long found out that he wouldn’t want it in any other way.

It wasn’t an easy journey, but it was worth it all the same. He would choose his home, many times if he needs to.

And oh how he would do anything not to let this home be taken away from him.

The prospect was too terrifying. Cloud held on Tifa tighter, pushed his head into her chest more– the image of her dying flashed through his eyes. He took a deep inhale, breathing in her scent.

_Here. She was here. She--_

“Do you want to talk about it?” Her voice disrupted his thoughts.

Did he want to?

No. He didn’t. He didn’t want to relive the nightmare when it was too fresh – he thought that maybe it will always stay as a fresh wound, even when time passed by. For now, he was content to listening to her heartbeat, and him in her arms, their bodies touching. How he wished sometimes to crawl in her and stay in her heart.

Someday he would talk about this fear to her.

But this moment he wasn’t ready to open it up to her yet.

Next time for sure. He shook his head and she understood. Of course, she would. Because she was his Tifa after all and she may know him more than he knew himself. 

_Please, to whatever gods and deities out there, don’t take her away from me._

She continued to hum a song and it lulled him to sleep shortly after. This time, he dreamed of being happy with his home by his side.

How he loved being at home.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! I'm touched that you finished this really aaaaa. Constructive criticism is appreciated! And if you could leave a review that would be great!
> 
> Fun fact: The line Tifa said here “You’ve always had me” is in the novel On The Way To A Smile: Case of Tifa. There was a dialogue there where Cloud says everything will be alright now because he has Tifa by his side (his subtle way in expressing his feelings) and Tifa replied with the line above (her subtle way in expressing her feelings for him too) So the line is an indirect way to express it.
> 
> PS: Also I thank the peeps at Final Heaven Discord for putting this bit of thought into words because it makes me cry and I love it so much that I incorporated it here.
> 
> PPS: By feelings, I mean, yes, love *winks winks*
> 
> PPPS: So yes she meant I love you by that


End file.
